Where 1 + 1 > 2

At some point, I had thought to walk by myself. Not sure if it was out of arrogance or the thought of being self-sufficient. It was much later that I realized that the "ease with which I could walk, sleep, or simply be was because someone was looking out for me unconditionally. In the initial weeks of our pilgrimage, I could feel a hand coming to me every midnight just to check if I was safe after a tiresome day of walking.

There is a joke that my sister shares. She says, "For you, taking up this parikrama is like a love marriage, whereas for me, it is an arranged one. "For me, it was the love for the river and its credence, whereas for her, it was her unconditional love for me. She said yes to purely supporting my calling and discovering her love while being part of it. When I asked her what made her say 'yet' something like this, which wasn't on her bucket list ever, especially when it wasn't about walking for a day or two. It was a long-term commitment for which I personally spent almost 3 years preparing. With a smile, she says, "I have tried taking a few initiatives, where I have mostly failed to get support. I understood that if we put our ego aside, what matters at the end is saying a yes to anything good. It doesn't matter who is leading it. All of us can be co-creators for the greater good." 

"

In my 30 years, this is the first time we are doing almost everything together, be it washing clothes, preparing food, praying, attending nature's call, and most importantly, walking together for almost 9 hours a day. She says the joy is in doing "ordinary" things together, which makes the whole experience extraordinary.

"Any time I overlooked the strength of two. I would tell her, "Why do you need two people if the same task can be done by one person?" She gave me the analogy of an ant colony, where several ants do one task. The system is that if one fails, the second will move forward, and if the second fails, the third will take over. Here, efficiency might be lower, but resilience is high. 

When I see someone so selfless in front of me, it helps me see the selfish corners in me. Apart from

Having someone to listen, to share, to give a fresh perspective, to share jokes and laugh aloud, to massage my feet when in pain, to find strength in the last leg of our day...she gently holds my edges, giving one more chance to change, which definitely requires a lot of strength and love. 

I could have never soaked in the beauty of this pilgrimage if I were by myself. To briefly share about her sense of being/ philosophy/ practice, I am reminded of the African proverb which says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

"Deep, deep gratitude to have her as my co-pilgrim for life